


Marketplace

by Leidolette



Category: Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare
Genre: Cannibalism, F/M, Gore, Horror, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23920600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leidolette/pseuds/Leidolette
Summary: Beatrice wakes up different, but her plans are unchanged.
Relationships: Beatrice/Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 13





	Marketplace

Last night, Beatrice had a dream.

She dreamed that a man came to balcony and called to her through the window. No, not any man -- it was Don John.

Don John's voice was so sweet in the dream, so different from the waking world. There was some quality in it that was impossible to resist, so Beatrice rose and walked to the window with her white nightdress billowing out behind her in the night breeze.

When she reached him at the edge of her balcony, Don John had clasped her hands in hers, and, since it was merely a dream, there was no real impropriety.

(Though then a little voice had whispered at the back of her mind wondering why she would dream of Don John, why her feet felt like lead, why the scream rising at the back of her throat could not get out.)

With his cold, cold hands surrounding hers, Don John had spoken to her of his time on campaign, and of the man who had come to Don John outside his tent, much the way he came to her now. The stranger had promised Don John many things -- and those things came true.

Don John had asked Beatrice: Didn't she want many things as well? Didn't she want revenge?

Under the pale moon, in the deepest sleep, Beatrice had nodded.

Don John had said the stranger had kissed his neck. He began to lean forward to kiss hers. His eyes shined in the dark like an animal's.

(Run run run)

The kiss had hurt, and then it did not, and then there was nothing but bliss.

* * *

Beatrice blinked awake in the golden light of morning.

What a strange dream.

She stretched and smiled -- she was feeling quite fine today, and had many things to do.

What a strange, _strange_ dream.

* * *

Beatrice's first errand led her to the marketplace.

Vendors called out their wares from under the cloth awnings that shielded them and their goods from the hot afternoon sun.

She liked it here. On market days there was a buzz of energy in the air. Beatrice felt something like that buzz now in her veins.

Passing by another row of stalls, Beatrice found what she was looking for. There, under a canopy at the end of the square, Claudio and Don Pedro stood examining the craftsmanship of a particularly fine saddle.

Ah, finally. "Count Claudio! Prince!" Beatrice called, tone light as air.

Dust rose up around his feet when Claudio turned at the sound of her voice. He and the prince seemed surprised to see her there, then their expressions slid into a mixture of uncomfortable and wary.

"Lady Beatrice," the prince said, giving her the bare minimum of a greeting while Claudio paired it with a cool nod.

"My prince! My Lord Claudio!" she said, as if nothing were wrong, as these monsters hadn't done everything in their power to tear her cousins world to pieces. "Is this not a most pleasing day to be found in the market square?"

Claudio and Don Pedro glanced at one another. Claudio said, "Perchance trifling hot, my lady. Now, I will bid you Good Morn, and I and my company shall be on our way."

They went to stride past her, but Beatrice's hand leapt out and grasped Claudio's upper arm as strong as a vice.

For a instant he stared at her in surprise, then: "Release me, you damnéd virago!" Claudio tried, and failed, to yank away from her grip.

"This be not the way to grieve, Lady Beatrice," Don Pedro said as he tried to intervene. He pulled at the arm that held Claudio fast.

Without looking, pleasant expression still turned towards Claudio, Beatrice reached out with her free hand and _pushed_. Don Pedro flew back into a merchant's stall in a blur. Wood crashed and splintered as he plowed through through the back wall.

For a moment there was silence. Nothing stirred from the hole in the wood where the prince lay.

There was a great burst of sound and movement a heartbeat later. Customers hurried every which way to get out of radius of the unfolding disaster, and merchants rushed to cover and protect their goods.

Another man ran up to try to free Count Claudio -- he was brawny, a stranger to Beatrice. She flung him away as well, and the crowds confusion and fear intensified.

Claudio continued to struggle in Beatrice's grip. Sweat had gathered at his temples from the heat, and now matted his hair from his exertion and fear.

She looked deep into Claudio's wide eyes...

"Please, my lady," he breathed.

...and saw nothing there of any interest.

Beatrice did so like to play. She did so like to talk and to pun and to wit. But Claudio had never been a worthy opponent, and she was tired of his feeble gamesmanship. Claudio's pointless cruelty to Hero at the disastrous wedding had wounded Beatrice's heart then, and simply bored her now. It was time to do what she came here to do.

If the retreating crowds around her screamed about a monster, she'd show them a monster.

Beatrice's grip suddenly loosened, but Claudio didn't even have the chance to draw the sword at his side. One of her hands shot back out to get a better hold on Claudio's shoulder, and the other, with an ease that surprised even Beatrice, punched through his chest.

Claudio screamed, but it didn't have the volume you might expect. Probably because Beatrice was in the middle of tearing through the muscles that controlled his diaphragm.

Claudio beat at her with uncoordinated fists, even trying to strangle her. It was as much use as strangling a marble statue, and, in any case, the strength left his fingers quickly.

Claudio's broken, jagged ribs scratched at her own skin, but Beatrice kept pushing. Bones and ligaments cracked as her fingers pushed in deeper.

Instinctively, Beatrice knew that she could still save him. Even with his life's blood gushing around her wrist, she could save him with a kiss.

She did not.

Instead, Beatrice squeezed and tore. Then, she found what she was looking for. She dug her nails into the slippery, beating muscles of Claudio's heart and jerked it out in one motion.

Blood sprayed everywhere. Great spatters fell down onto the parched road and were instantly swallowed by the dust and the sand. Claudio's struggles ceased. His head lolled back, mouth still open in his last scream.

Beatrice brought the heart to her lips. It sat in her hand like a shiny red apple -- and she Eve. It felt like she could be the first woman of a brand new world. She took the first bite.

Glorious! Heavenly! Iron and salt exploded on her tongue. The muscle was tough and chewy, but Beatrice could not recall a dish she'd ever found more satisfying. She eagerly gulped down blood and muscle both. Beatrice let Claudio's body fall to the ground like the empty container it was.

Eyes watched her from behind cracked doorways. There was still screaming when she left, but no one tried to stop her. No one dared.

She licked her hands free of blood as she slipped out of sight of the marketplace and took a covered childhood shortcut back to her uncle's estate.

Bad news traveled fast, but it seemed that she traveled faster. For after she effortlessly scaled her uncle's garden wall, Beatrice turned the corner to find Benedick in the garden, pacing back and forth and staring intently at a paper in his hand. When he looked up at her, he smiled, unsuspecting of where she had been or what she had done.

"Sweet Beatrice, wouldst thou come when I called thee?"

Oh, what a strange set of coincidences, that he should be expecting her. Fortunate for her. But then, it felt as if nothing in the world could go against her today.

"Yea, Signior, and depart when you bid me."

"Oh, stay but till then!"

"'Then' is spoken. Fare you well now," she teased, making no motion to actually leave. "And yet, ere I go, let me go with that I came, which is, with knowing what hath passed between you and Claudio." Beatrice knew what had passed between _her_ and Claudio, of course, but she was still curious. What had been the last words exchanged between Claudio and his bosom companion Benedick?

"Only foul words, and thereupon I will kiss thee."

He probably expected her to demure or pull away, but the thought didn't even enter Beatrice's mind. She pulled him closer instead. Obviously surprised and delighted, she could feel the smile on his lips as she kissed him. His heartbeat and breathing quickened together as she slid her hands down his back and kissed and kissed.

Then, she **Kissed**.


End file.
